'The Crass Marketing of a Sadistic Racist'

Che Guevara is back in the news. You would think that such a bloodthirsty, murdering psychopath would just stay dead and buried rathert than be resurrected by deluded leftists who continue to be fascinated by his "reovlutionary" exploits.This time, it's the Mercedes car company who is actually using the thug to introduce new technology that will make it easier for drivers to find someone to share a ride to work with.

"Some colleagues still think that car-sharing borders on communism," Mercedes-Benz Chairman of the Board of Management Dieter Zetsche said onstage at CES today, speaking about Mercedes' new CarTogether initiative. "But if that's the case, viva la revolucion!"

To be sure, a luxury-car maker like Mercedes is not actually promoting communism. But during his CES talk, Zetsche pushed hard on a vision that the company has for a greener future that allows drivers to reduce emissions by using connected and social technology to easily find compatible passengers to share rides with.

Still, it's odd--and no doubt intended to stir up conversation--to hear a company so inexorably tied to money and lavish lifestyles invoking philosophies like communism. Especially with a picture of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara towering over Zetsche as he talked. Of course, Che's signature beret sported a Mercedes logo.

Either way, Mercedes' car-sharing technology is part of the company's larger vision for a smart-car future, one it's already implementing in its cars, and which it thinks can help drivers save money on fuel, and save the earth from excess emissions at the same time. As well, Mercedes wants to leverage the latest in telematics technology to give those who plunk down small fortunes on its vehicles the most up-to-date driving/technology experience.

Michael Gonzalez of the Heritage Foundation supplies the necessary lobotomy to Mr. Zetsche:

Much has been written about how Guevara executed men and boys in prison in the early revolutionary years in Cuba, disposing of such bourgeois niceties as trials. This little snippet from a 1966 speech by Guevara ought to have given Zetsche some pause:

Hatred is the central element of our struggle! Hatred that is intransigent...hatred so violent that it propels a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him violent and cold- blooded killing machine...We reject any peaceful approach. Violence is inevitable. To establish Socialism rivers of blood must flow! The imperialist enemy must feel like a hunted animal wherever he moves. Thus we'll destroy him! These hyenas are fit only for extermination. We must keep our hatred alive and fan it to paroxysm! The victory of Socialism is well worth millions of atomic victims!

But rebellion was something only reserved for Guevara and others in government. In an earlier speech spurning "the spirit of rebellion", in 1961, he made clear that government was in charge. "Youth must refrain from ungrateful questioning of governmental mandates," he said.

As for Guevara's views on race, he did not mince words. After the Revolution's victory in 1959, he famously said, "We're going to do for blacks exactly what blacks did for the revolution. By which I mean: nothing."

Like his friend and inspiration Fidel Castro, the left will never let go of their romanticism with regard to these Cuban killers. The body count is unbelievable from the Cuban regime and yet, as long as they were "imperialists," or "capitalists," or "enemies of the state," who were being murdered, the left just doesn't seem to care.

Historians 100 years from now will look back in wonder, shaking their head that so many who claimed to be intelligent believed in something so stupid.

Che Guevara is back in the news. You would think that such a bloodthirsty, murdering psychopath would just stay dead and buried rathert than be resurrected by deluded leftists who continue to be fascinated by his "reovlutionary" exploits.

This time, it's the Mercedes car company who is actually using the thug to introduce new technology that will make it easier for drivers to find someone to share a ride to work with.

"Some colleagues still think that car-sharing borders on communism," Mercedes-Benz Chairman of the Board of Management Dieter Zetsche said onstage at CES today, speaking about Mercedes' new CarTogether initiative. "But if that's the case, viva la revolucion!"

To be sure, a luxury-car maker like Mercedes is not actually promoting communism. But during his CES talk, Zetsche pushed hard on a vision that the company has for a greener future that allows drivers to reduce emissions by using connected and social technology to easily find compatible passengers to share rides with.

Still, it's odd--and no doubt intended to stir up conversation--to hear a company so inexorably tied to money and lavish lifestyles invoking philosophies like communism. Especially with a picture of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara towering over Zetsche as he talked. Of course, Che's signature beret sported a Mercedes logo.

Either way, Mercedes' car-sharing technology is part of the company's larger vision for a smart-car future, one it's already implementing in its cars, and which it thinks can help drivers save money on fuel, and save the earth from excess emissions at the same time. As well, Mercedes wants to leverage the latest in telematics technology to give those who plunk down small fortunes on its vehicles the most up-to-date driving/technology experience.

Michael Gonzalez of the Heritage Foundation supplies the necessary lobotomy to Mr. Zetsche:

Much has been written about how Guevara executed men and boys in prison in the early revolutionary years in Cuba, disposing of such bourgeois niceties as trials. This little snippet from a 1966 speech by Guevara ought to have given Zetsche some pause:

Hatred is the central element of our struggle! Hatred that is intransigent...hatred so violent that it propels a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him violent and cold- blooded killing machine...We reject any peaceful approach. Violence is inevitable. To establish Socialism rivers of blood must flow! The imperialist enemy must feel like a hunted animal wherever he moves. Thus we'll destroy him! These hyenas are fit only for extermination. We must keep our hatred alive and fan it to paroxysm! The victory of Socialism is well worth millions of atomic victims!

But rebellion was something only reserved for Guevara and others in government. In an earlier speech spurning "the spirit of rebellion", in 1961, he made clear that government was in charge. "Youth must refrain from ungrateful questioning of governmental mandates," he said.

As for Guevara's views on race, he did not mince words. After the Revolution's victory in 1959, he famously said, "We're going to do for blacks exactly what blacks did for the revolution. By which I mean: nothing."

Like his friend and inspiration Fidel Castro, the left will never let go of their romanticism with regard to these Cuban killers. The body count is unbelievable from the Cuban regime and yet, as long as they were "imperialists," or "capitalists," or "enemies of the state," who were being murdered, the left just doesn't seem to care.

Historians 100 years from now will look back in wonder, shaking their head that so many who claimed to be intelligent believed in something so stupid.